Steel and Sake
by LazyEarthPony
Summary: A collection of drabbles about Republic City's police chief Lin Beifong, including fabulous tales of police work, family, and prank-pulling. And also alcohol.
1. Childhood Friends

_A/N:_ _This is a collection of drabbles/mini fics written as requests for my Lin Beifong RP blog on tumblr, url hardboiledbeifong.  
_

When Lin was very young, she didn't see much of her Uncle Aang and Aunt Katara. Her mother traveled a lot, and only made it back to Republic City about once or twice a year. When they did visit, she usually ended up playing with Tenzin. They were around the same age, and the older kids didn't want anything to do with the "babies", at least that didn't involve talking one of them into doing something stupid and dangerous (which would, naturally, invoke Katara's wrath).

Their favorite game was one they made up involving kicking a ball off of things. Lin couldn't actually remember what they called it. They would kick a ball off of walls and posts and sometimes siblings and see how far it bounced back. There might have been a point system, or maybe the winner was decided based on who won the argument. The game got more interesting as their bending started emerging, since Lin could make her own walls and Tenzin stopped needing to bounce the ball off of anything to send it flying.

One time, the adults all decided to go out somewhere to eat, and Kya wanted to spend time with her friends, leaving Bumi in charge of Tenzin and Lin (something he would never be allowed to do again). When the two noticed that their babysitter was asleep on the couch and they had no one to entertain them, they went outside to play.

The game went alright for about ten minutes. Then Tenzin angled his airbending wrong, and accidentally hit Lin in the face.

"Hey!" She had shrieked, "you did that on purpose!"

"Did not!" Tenzin had said, "It was an accident! I was aiming for the ball!"

"Nuh-uh! You were aiming for me!"

"No, I was no-hey!" Lin's earthbending sent him flying back about ten feet, only to catch himself on the air on the way down. "LiiiIIIN!" He whined, "That's not fair! I didn't mean to hit you!"

"Yes you did!" another earthbending kick.

"No, I did not!" another blast of air.

Twenty minutes later, the adults came back to the island to find Tenzin trapped in a cocoon of earth, and Lin on the roof.

And an entire wall missing.

And Bumi was still asleep on the couch.

Lin would never forget the shade of red her Uncle Aang's face turned, or how her ears rang after ten minutes of Katara's shrieking.

Her mother, of course, only laughed.


	2. Hangover

"Oh sweet spirits my mother is going to kill me." Tenzin groaned.

"Yeah, 'sweet spirits' is what got us into this in the first place." Lin retorted, rubbing her temples against a _nasty _hangover.

"_Your _mother is going to kill me."

"Not if Katara already has."

"Could you be serious for five minutes, Lin? We need to figure out how much we ended up destroying!" He flinched at the booming of his own voice.

They were supposed to be celebrating Kya's wedding. It was supposed to be a quiet gathering of family and friends. There wasn't supposed to be any alcohol.

But Lin was bored and Tenzin was awkward. Neither was a big fan of parties, and Lin somehow talked Uncle Sokka out of a bottle of his favorite sake. They were only going to have a few drinks. Something to get Tenzin dancing.

Lin was too drunk to remember which of them suggested they leave the reception. Once they did, they acquired one of those newfangled Satomobiles (she was beginning to suspect that it was Bumi's, which would not make him happy since it was now at the bottom of the bay) and went for a little drive. Somehow, she drove sort of okay, or at least okay enough not to get them killed.

From there, they somehow ended up crashing another wedding where they mysteriously acquired a goatpig. Or, at least, this was Tenzin's theory on how they acquired the goatpig.

Things were fuzzy at best from there. They danced a lot. They might have made out. They weren't naked, thankfully, but Tenzin was wearing a dress and she did have on a traditional Water Tribe headdress. And they were soaking wet (probably from the Satomobile-in-the-ocean incident) and on top of Police Headquarters.

"Can we make a deal?" Tenzin asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Sure, so long as it involves you finding men's clothing to wear."

"No more sake. Ever again."


	3. Jazz

"Oh, come _on _Lin, it'll be fun!"

Kya's idea of "fun" was dragging her to dinner and a show at the local theater with Tenzin's (way too young for him) fiancé, Pema. No. It would not be fun.

"Kya, you know I'm busy."

"Oh, they can live without their Chief for one night. You don't even work nights usually, do you?"

"Not usually, no, but there have been security issues-"

"Lin. You are not the only officer in the city. They can handle it for one night while we introduce her to the family."

"If you want to introduce her fairly, you should invite Bumi."

"I'm trying to ease her into our…insanity." She said. "Besides, you're worse than Bumi, and you know it."

Kya somehow managed to talk her into wearing something other than her police uniform, and the three of them found a table fairly close to the stage. Lin sat in silence, mostly, while Kya and Pema happily chatted. She was fairly certain Pema was afraid of her. She didn't really know why. She'd known the girl at least a little since she'd first joined the Acolytes. It wasn't like she didn't know that Lin had all the endearing sweetness of an angry saber-tooth moose-lion.

Of course, sending Pema a letter full of compromising pictures of a hungover Tenzin in a sequined pink dress may not have been the best move if she was looking for friendship.

The food was alright and the show was actually enjoyable. Some jazz dancing showcase. After the show ended, the three women walked home, Lin keeping about a step behind the other two.

She was taken aback when Pema fell back into step with her.

"Lin," She asked, a little timidly, "What did you think of the show?"

Lin blinked. "Um," she said, "it was good. I actually like those jazz shows."

"Really?" Pema blinked. "I would never have pinned you as a jazz woman."

"I don't look it," Lin replied, "but I do enjoy things sometimes."

"Yeah," Kya chimed in, "and when she's feeling really crazy, you'll even catch her smiling." Lin just rolled her eyes.

The conversation was actually sort of easy after that. Lin talked about police work, Pema about life with Acolytes. Kya sort of let them talk, Lin assumed because she'd done what she'd set out to do in getting her to socialize. And at the end of the evening, Lin actually caught herself saying, "This was fun. We should do it again sometime."

From that day forward, Kya made it a point to take the two of them out to a jazz show whenever she was in town.


	4. Date

His name was Kaito, and he had been wearing her down for weeks.

He was good, too. He never sent her flowers or tried to flatter her. He would just casually invite her out for tea or for lunch, which she'd immediately decline. He never acted dejected or disappointed; he just shrugged it off and went back to his department.

She had only been on the police force for two years. He was a brilliant detective who had been promoted very young. He was also very persistent, and she finally agreed to a date just to shut him up.

He picked her up at her apartment that evening and took her to a nice little restaurant downtown. He brought her a single flower and casually complimented her looks. He didn't gush over her or act nervous around her or insist on never letting her touch a doorknob. He was a gentleman, of course, but not overwhelmingly so. Lin found it sort of refreshing.

They talked about work a lot. Lin was actually sort of curious about his job. She'd helped a few detectives before, and had maybe thought about going into that department herself. He was, unsurprisingly, very intelligent and witty. He was also very honest and upfront; there was no amount of exaggerating any part of his life to make himself look better. Lin sort of liked that.

He drove her home and walked her to the door. They talked for just a bit longer before he hugged her and left. He didn't kiss her goodnight.

Lin was surprised to find that that annoyed her.


	5. Designated Driver

"Com_pletely _irresponsible!"

"Hahaha, I burned a thing…"

"Not to mention _illegal_!"

"YOU'RE legal, you…"

"What is Tenzin going to say about this? Did you even _consider _that?"

"Did you even considfler with the wadflaopr?"  
"Don't you-wait, _what?"_

She was met with a fit of giggles from the young Avatar.

"Why am I even talking to you. You're drunk off your sorry ass." She mumbled. She fumed in silence for a few minutes while she dragged a very drunk Korra to a holding cell.

The Chief had received a call at the station about a bar fight. She would have just sent a patrol officer, but the caller made a point to tell her that it was the Avatar. She'd wanted to deal with it herself. Apparently, letting the Avatar off the hook after her first round of random destruction had been a mistake.

But when she showed up, she found the girl drunk. Not only was she underage (for which the owner had received a citation and faced losing his business license) but she was the _Avatar._ Whether she respected the title or not, the Chief knew what it entailed. People were always watching her. She was supposed to be the embodiment of all spiritual wisdom, as much as the thought made the Chief laugh. She was supposed to at least _try _to live up to that.

"Look, kid," she said, sighing. "I know you won't remember me saying any of this in the morning, but…" she stopped in front of the cell, spinning the girl around to face her. "You need to be careful. I know you're young. I know you haven't had a chance to _be _young. But that is no excuse for what happened tonight!" She pinched the bridge of her nose. She then looked at Korra, trying her best to glare through her drunken fog to get the message through to her.

"This city will eat you alive if you let it. Neither side of this revolution wants to see you show weakness. Doing things like this…you're going to give people a chance to hurt you. So _don't let this happen again,_ understand?"

Korra stared at her, confused. Then she looked intently at her hands before laughing. "I can't… feel my fingers…"

"Okay." The Chief grabbed her wrist and opened the cell door. "Sit here and wait for Tenzin to bail you out. _He _can deal with you."


	6. Glider

"Lin? Lin!" She heard a voice and looked up. It was her Uncle Aang, of course, on his glider. She should have known better than to hide on the roof. "Lin, we've been looking all over for you! Your mother is frantic! Where have you been?"

She blinked. "Here."

"Oh. Right. But…Lin, you can't just disappear like that. When you're mom can't even find you, she worries."

"Why is she so worried? She hates me." She hugged her knees tighter, turning away.

Aang looked taken aback for a moment. Then he smiled gently. "Lin, sweetie, your mother does not _hate _you."

"Yeah she does!" Lin would not cry. She refused to cry. "The way she was yelling at me today…she hates me. I know it."

"Lin…" he scooted closer, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Sometimes…sometimes parents get mad at their kids. I get mad at my kids."

"But you never yell."

"Not a lot, no. But your Aunt Katara does."

"Well I know _that."_

He laughed. "Yes, of course. But just because we get mad at our kids, it doesn't mean we hate them. Ever."

She finally looked up at him. "Really?"

"Of course really! No matter what they do, or how much trouble they get in, I'll always love my kids. Just like your mom will always love you. I know it."

"But…" this was a lot for an eight-year-old to process. Love was a very complex thing, and the thought that nothing could end it was daunting.

"Now." Aang interrupted her thoughts. "Why don't we go find your mom and let her know you're okay."

"And…" she didn't want to see her mom at the moment, really. "And you're _sure_ she doesn't hate me?"

"I swear it!" He smiled, broad and a little goofy, "Avatar's honor!"

"Well, if it's the Avatar's honor, then it has to be right." She said innocently, and Aang laughed again.

"Come on." He took her hand to lead her down the roof.

"Aw, can't we take the glider?"

Aang gave her a serious look. "You promise to hold on tight?"

"Of course!"

He let out a mock exasperated sigh, "Then we'll take the glider."

"Yay!"


End file.
